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 There are great things I received by following the advice of Rav Nahman. But I think that it would have been better if I had stuck with the straight Litvak path of Torah based on the Gra, and instead of jettisoning that, I would have simply added the great ideas and advice of Rav Nahman. The reason I say this is there are important aspects of the path of the Gra that one can not get anywhere else. Diligence in learning Torah, carefulness in all aspects of Torah and especially laws about monetary issues, care in not speaking lashon hara/slander.  

 I was at the Na Nach [Breslov] place today and they were learning the LeM vol. I:106 where Rav Nahman goes into the idea that "all poorness is from the mind," [small mindedness].  And there he also brings the idea of teaching and rebuke.  So even though there is a definite aspect of not to rebuke others as you see in LeM vol. II:8 still there is a time a place where it is proper.   [LeM II:8 starts out with: "Even though rebuke is important, still not everyone is fit to rebuke, since by rebuke one can make things worse."]

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תלמיד חכם שד יהודי Torah scholar that is a demon [LeM vol. I:12. Also vol I:28 and Zohar page 253 on the Book of Numbers]

From where does Rav Nahman [of Uman and Breslov] get the idea that there is such a thing as a Torah scholar that is a demon? It is from the Zohar page 253 in the book of Numbers. I had a chance to look it up and  I see it is a good source to some degree, but Rav Nahman does interpret it in a unique way. For all you really see there is that there are two kinds of demons. Gentile demons and Jewish demons. And the Zohar does bring from the Gemara that Jewish demons can be sent on errands for the sake of Torah scholars that learn Mishna. And it adds that these Jewish demons are experts in Torah. But so far you do not see that they enter into the bodies of Torah scholars. That is a new idea that Rav Nahman adds. 

[I should add here that I have a high degree of confidence in what Rav Nahman writes. And this lesson in particular seems to me to very important because it tells us something that otherwise people would only come to know by bitter experience after there is no more chance of correcting the damage that these demonic Torah scholars do.]

 

 חשבתי על תשובת רב שך בעבודה זרה כ''ג ע''ב ועכשיו אני חושב שזה נכון. הסיבה שאני אומר זאת היא שגם כשארץ כנען ניתנה לאברהם, שאומר שהוא רצה לקבל בעלות על האשרות [העצים שנשתלו כדי לסגוד להם.] ורק למען הוויכוחים נניח שהוא קיבל זכות בעלים בכל מקרה. אז מה יהיה הרעיון החדש? אנחנו כבר יודעים שצריך לשרוף אליל ששייך לישראלי. אז הגמרא הזו רוצה להגיד לנו משהו חדש, כלומר שכדי שאובייקט ייאסר כאליל, הוא לא צריך להיות בבעלות האדם הסוגד לו. אלא די בכך שהבעלים לא יתנגד. ולמעשה זה מקור החוק הזה

Rav Shach's answer in Avoda Zara 23 side b

I was thinking about Rav Shach's answer in Avoda Zara 23 side b and now I think it is right. The reason I say this is that even when the land of Canaan was given to Avraham, who says he wanted to get ownership of the asherot [trees that had been planted to be worshipped.] And just for argument's sake let's say he got ownership of them anyway. Then what would be the new idea? We already know that an idol that belongs to a Israeli needs to be burned. So this Gemara wants to tell us something new, I.e. that for an object to become forbidden as an idol, it does not need to be owned by the person worshipping it. Rather it is enough that the owner does not object. And in fact this is the source of that law. 

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I was thinking about רב שך answer in עבודה זרה כ''ג ע''ב and now I think it is right. The reason I say this is that even when the land of Canaan was given to Avraham, who says he wanted to get ownership of the אשות [trees that had been planted to be worshipped.] And just for argument's sake let's say he got ownership of them anyway. Then what would be the new idea? We already know that an idol that belongs to a Israeli needs to be burned. So this גמרא wants to tell us something new, I.e. that for an object to become forbidden as an idol, it does not need to be owned by the person worshipping it. Rather it is enough that the owner does not object. And in fact this is the source of that law.

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